Conventional harvesters for sugar cane employ a sugar cane stalk cutting mechanism to form billets which are conveyed through the harvester and into a hopper connected to the harvester. The freshly cut billets so formed are typically 9 to 12 inches in length, have exposed plant tissue at their ends and can be split or mutilated by the harvesting process. As such, the billets can serve as ideal hosts for microbes seeking a source of nutrients. Microbes which find a home in or on these billets can begin to break down sugar components in the billets, thereby decreasing the ultimate sugar yield realized from the harvested billets. The longer the billets are stored prior to processing, the more likely it is that microbial degradation of the sugar components in the billets will take place. Moreover, billet-type sugar cane harvesters are capable of harvesting sugar cane which has fallen down or which has become twisted through exposure to weather elements. Such cane often has exposed plant tissue even before the billet harvester cuts the stalks, increasing the likelihood of microbial activity in the sugar cane which is detrimental to sugar yield and overall crop quality.
In the past, microbiocide (also referred to herein as “biocide”) has been applied in the sugar mill process, with the quantity of microbiocide applied typically being divided between the tandems mills and the first cutting knives of the mill for bacteria control. In regions of the world where transportation of harvested product is difficult and time-consuming, anti-bacterial agents have been applied by a hand sprayer onto hand-cut sugarcane, or by hand-dipping the ends of the sugarcane stalks in microbiocide solution. Others have applied anti-bacterial agents after the cut sugar cane has been cleansed at an off-field cleansing station prior to product transport by rail or truck. All such methods, however, permit the passage of time between the time the cane stalks are cut and the time the microbiocide is actually applied.
A need therefore continues to exist for a system or method which efficiently inhibits microbial degradation of harvested sugar cane to thereby maximize the sugar yield realized from sugar cane harvesting.